Decibel Levels

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    Once again, Thanks to Del for the informative post. Concerning the
loudness of the larger piano, I would have instinctively (intuitively)
thought that the larger soundboard would have caused a greater volume of air
to be displaced, thus creating more "volume". I was under the impression
that volume and loudness are not necessarily the same thing.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Delwin D Fandrich" <pianobuilders@olynet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2000 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: Decibel Levels


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen Airy" <stephen_airy@yahoo.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: December 30, 2000 1:56 AM
> Subject: RE: Decibel Levels
>
>
> > I'd like to know what a Bosendorfer Imperial with the lid open played as
> > loud as possible (but no so loud you break the strings/hammers) in a
> medium
> > sized living room (like 15 by 25 or something like that) would sound
like.
> :)
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> This brings up an interesting question. Are physically larger pianos
> necessarily louder than their smaller counterparts?
>
> Fortunately, I can give a definitive answer to this question: and that is
> definitely maybe.
>
> Some years ago I was able to directly compare--an un-rehearsed
demonstration
> before a live audience of piano teachers and piano players, along with a
few
> technicians thrown in for good measure--the upright piano we were then
> making with a Bosendorfer Imperial. From C=88 down to something below C=28
> the upright had both more acoustical power and longer sustain. In other
> words, through most of the musical range normally used in normal music.
>
> There are a lot of different elements of design and construction that go
> into determining a piano's potential power output, but physical size is
not
> one of them.
>
> Most commonly it is assumed that the longer scales of the large piano
makes
> them potentially louder. But through most of the scale there is not all
that
> much difference in scale length. At least not in their potential scale
> length.
>
> Nor does the potentially larger size of the soundboard help. Piano
> soundboards are not amplifiers and bigger is not better. Most piano
> soundboards are larger than necessary. The functional area of the
soundboard
> used in the upright was one the smallest of any piano I know of--various
> cutoff bars limited its functional size. Certainly it was smaller that
that
> of the Bosendorfer Imperial.
>
> There is clearly an advantage to having shear size available when building
a
> piano, but absolute power output is not one of them. What the extra size
of
> pianos such as the Bosendorfer Imperial does give--at least
potentially--is
> tone quality and clarity through the first two to two-and-a-half octaves
> that comes from the much longer, and less massively loaded, bass string.
But
> this advantage disappears about two to two-and-a-half octaves up the
scale.
>
> Del
>